What to do with the hole in the floor
by names are hard guys
Summary: Stark Tower has been rebuilt - except for a crater in the middle of the living room. Pepper wants it gone, but Tony has other ideas for it... One-shot. Post-Avengers.


"Come on Pepper, we can't just fill it in!"

"Yes we can, Tony."

"Well I know we _can_, but we shouldn't."

"And why's that?"

"Because it's hilarious."

"I don't think that's a good enough reason to ju-"

"I don't need a good reason, I'm Tony Stark."

Renovations to Stark Tower were nearly done. All that remained was a crater in the floor of the penthouse living room where a certain "god" had been beaten into submission. Everything else was done and it wouldn't take more than a day to fix this last blemish, but Tony wasn't having any of it. The workmen had been waiting in the lobby downstairs for most of the morning and had taken to a game of poker after an hour or so.

"Tony, what would you do with it?" Pepper finally asked.

Tony stumbled on his words. "Uhm, just keep it, I guess?"

"Just keep a gaping hole in the middle of our living room?"

Tony began his retort before Pepper had even finished talking. "It's hardly a hole if there's still ground underneath it."

"It's still a safety hazard."

"For who?"

"For-"

"For us?"

"Yes for us!"

"Yeah, well, the only safety hazards I care about are the ones we can be sued over. And this isn't one."

Pepper's headache worsened.

"Come on, Pep."

"Tony. Tony, there's even rubble. It's-"

"It's what?"

"It's unsightly."

"Unsightly?"

"Yes. Unsightly."

Tony snorted. "Is that really your main concern? Aesthetics?"

"No, I-"

"Fine, okay."

"You'll let them fix it?"

"No. I've got a better idea." He was grinning then. _That_ grin. The grin that said _oh just wait until you see what I've done_.

"Tony, no," Pepper began, but Tony was already half-way to the elevator.

"Just wait, you'll love it," he called back to her before the doors slid shut on him.

Pepper took a seat at the bar and rubbed her temples. Tony was great, but sometimes... Sometimes she wanted to whack him upside the head. Heavens know what he'd decided for this little crater. Maybe he was going to smooth it out and put a little monument in the middle. Or tether it off and commission a plaque to be placed in front of it. Or make it an actual hole through the floor and put some sort of glass paneling to make a window between this room and... what was under this room? His lab? Oh god, he was going to put in a dumb waiter and make her use it.

She took a bottle of ibuprofen out of her purse and was about to open it when the elevator door slid open again with an audible _whoosh_. The pill bottle was left on the bar as she stood up and got ready to make her case again.

Out of the elevator came two workmen and one Tony Stark.

The moment he was within earshot, Pepper began her rant. "Tony, I don't know what you're planning-"

"Alright boys," Tony said, effectively cutting her off, "it's right over here." He directed the men to the crater and took his place beside Pepper.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at him.

"What?"

What followed was less of a conversation and more of an interruption contest.

"What do you mean what-"

"-I mean what because you look angry-"

"-Tony, I saw _six_ workmen in the lobby-"

"-that's because if we were _fixing_ it today we would need six-"

"-and there's only _two_ here right now-"

"-we only need two to survey-"

"Survey?"

"Yes, survey. It shouldn't take more than-"

"What do you mean survey? Survey what?"

"Survey- survey the crater here-"

"They've already seen it-"

"Yes but-"

"Tony." Pepper's tone signified the end of it. For the moment.

"What?"

"Just tell me what you're trying to do here."

"I tried and you interrupted me," Tony insisted.

"That's not-" she stopped herself and took a breath. "I'm listening."

"Okay, I want to compromise."

"Compromise?" Pepper interrupted. "How do you compromise fixing a floor?"

"Uh, I believe I was talking?"

Sighing, she adjusted her stance to face Tony and gave him a look that promised pain if he didn't cut to the chase.

"So. I want to keep the crater." Tony put a hand up to stay Pepper's inevitable interruption. "But I know you want it filled in. So I say we do both."

"You've lost me."

"I want a fishpond."

"You want a fishpond," Pepper repeated, shaking her head.

"I want a fishpond. Right there." Tony pointed back to the crater that was currently being measured by the two workmen.

"Tony, that's ridiculous. You can't just have a fishpond in the middle of our living room."

"Why not?" he challenged.

"Because- because it's a safety hazard," Pepper said.

Tony rolled his eyes. "You already used that argument and I said I didn't care, remember?"

"Yes, I remember. Tony, it's too much."

"Too much?"

"Yes. You're overdoing it."

"Overdoing it?" he scoffed. "I'm Tony Stark, I always overdo things."

He had a point there, Pepper admitted. It wasn't any more ridiculous than anything else he'd done in the past. In fact, this was rather tame for him.

"Come on, Pep," he said, and the enthusiasm for the idea apparent on his face.

"You know what? Fine. Fine, you can have your fishpond," Pepper said, defeated. There was no convincing Tony to just fix the floor, so why bother? And, honestly, it wasn't his _worst_ idea.

"Really?" asked Tony, confused by her relatively quick resignation.

"Really."

His confusion was replaced with a gleeful smile. After giving Pepper a quick peck on the cheek, he clapped his hands together and turned to face the two workmen. "Alright, let's do this then!"

Pepper shook her head, but smiled despite having technically lost the argument. She returned to the bar and took two ibuprofen for her headache. Soon after, Tony took a seat next to her and gave her an unapologetic grin.

Three days later, the fishpond was installed. Two days after that, the fish were bought and placed in their new home.

Pepper and Tony sat by the bar with two glasses and a bottle of champagne.

"Admit it," Tony said after taking a sip from his glass, "you like the fish."

Pepper looked at the bright red fish that swam in the small pond in the center of the room and frowned. "It's still a safety hazard."

Tony huffed. "Not so!"

"But it is much better than a crater filled with rubble," she quickly added.

"Agreed," said Tony. "And infinitely better than just getting rid of it."

Pepper assessed the pond. It wasn't horrible, she supposed "Maybe not infinitely. I'd say... 12% better."

"You're still hung up on that?"

"A case could be made for fifteen."

"Whatever."

With that, they clinked their glasses in a toast to the (second) completion of Stark Tower - fish and all.

* * *

A/N: This was inspired by a few lines in the fic 'Beneath' by ninepen. During a scene that took place at Stark Tower, it was revealed that Tony had turned the hole in the floor into a fishpond. I just loved the idea and this kind of happened...

Anyways, the snappy dialogue between Tony and Pep is _really_ difficult to get across in writing, and I'd love to know if I managed to accomplish that at all? It all made sense in my head, but I don't know how well it translated. Also, I'm aware that I'm really bad at endings, so... yeah...

But really, do let me know what you thought (good or bad) in a review! Thanks for reading!


End file.
